Pipe-wrench.



1. LA ROCK.

PIPE WRENCHI APPLICATION FILED 1AII.9. |915.

1 ,161,777., Patented Nov. 23, 1915;

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JOI-IN LA ROCK, or CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, AssIGNoR `or ONE-HALF To Tmamvcn r. MCKENNA, or CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

PIPE-WRENCH.

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v Specification'of Letters Patent.

Patent-canon 23, i915.

Applicationled January 9, 1915. Serial No. 1,292.

To all whom t may concern.' l

Be it known that I, JOHN L A ROCK, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Pipe-Wrenches; and I do hereby declare that the following is a` full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the characters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.l

This invention relates to improvements in wrenches designed more particularly for grasping cylindric articles, such as pipes and the like, to turn them or to hold them from turning, as desired, but isk also adapted to hold ypolygonal objects such as nuts, the heads of bolts and the like.

Among the objects of the invention is to provide an improved wrench of this character which is so constructed and arranged as to permit it being worked in close quarters as, for instance, to enable it to be applied to and turn a pipe that is located against a wall, or to ada-pt it to be used for operating on the nested pipes of a coil or like structure. K

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved wrench of this character which, while finding its greatest efficiency when applied to a. pipe of a given size, yet is capable of eiiicient use with pipes of larger or smaller sizes and the parts are so arranged as to permit the wrench to be readily adjusted to such larger or smaller pipes.

A further object of the invention is toprovide in a wrench of this character a. construction wherein the jaws of the wrench may be made to grasp the pipe or other article to be held and turned with great power and, at the same time, to provide a construction which is very compact so as to permit its use in close quarters without clashing with adjacent objects.

Other Objects of the invention are to improve and simplify wrenches of the character referred to, and the invention consists in the matters hereinafter set forth and more particularly pointed out in the appended claim.

In the drawings z-Figure 1 is a plan view of a wrench embodying my invention showing the same applied to a pipe located flat against a wall. Fig. 2 is a side view of a wrench.- Figs. 3 and 4 are partial plan views showingthe capacity fOr adjustment of the wrench. Y

As shownin the drawings, 10 and 11 designate the jaws of the wrench.V One of the j awsris madeintegral with' a hand lever 12. The other is made integral with ashort lever 13 which is pivoted, as by means of a pivot pin or rivet 14,`to the hand lever 12 adjacent to the jaw 10. 'Ihe said lever 13 is provided at its rear end with a rearwardly Openingcurved notch 15 which Vis engaged by al curved ended extension 16 of a second hand lever 17 that is pivote-d, as by means of a pivot pin 18 to the hand lever 12. The hand lever 17 is arranged in the" plane of the jaw lever 18 and lies over the hand lever 12 so as to be capable of swinging across the said hand lever 12 in both directions, as indicated in Figs. Sand 4.

The jaws are curved Von their inner faces to conform to the circleV of a pipe of a. size to which they are most efficiently adapted, and are formed on their inner curved faces with teeth or serrations 19. rIhe curved faces of the said jaws comprise together slightly more than one-half of the circle of the pipe to which they are adapted to be applied, and are pointed at their ends.

In practice plumbers and gas-litters usually prefer a separate wrench for each size of pipe to beV handled, and when the wrench is applied to a size of pipe to which it is most efficiently adapted the serrated faces of the jaws engage the pipe practically throughout the combined lengths of the jaws, as best shown in Fig. 1, so as to thereby producea gripping action which is of maximum etliciency for holding the pipe. This construction, taken in connection with the compounding of the leverage on the s jaws through the action of the hand lever 17 and the j aw` lever 13 produces a wrench of very high efliciency for holding or turning a pipe or like cylindric object. It will be furthermore noted that the action of the hand lever 17 on the jaw lever 18 is a rolling action throughout kthe range of movement of the hand lever and that when operating on a pipe of a size to which the wrench is most f to engage over larger or smaller pipes, respectively, the rolling engagement is between the end of the jaw lever at. the sides of the notch 15 and shoulders 2O at the sides of the base of the projection 16, as shown in j Figs. 3 and 4.

of the wrench is permitted to turn the pipe without clashing with the surface of the wall.`

lhile the wrench possesses its highest efiiciency when operating upon a diameter of pipe to which the dimensions of the wrench especially adapt it, it will be noted from an inspection of'Figs. 3 and 4 that the wrench is also capable of eflicient gripping action upon pipes of larger or smaller diameter. Thus when the hand lever 17 is swung to the position shown in Fig. 3 the jaws of the wrench are capable of receiving a pipe or like object of considerably larger diameter than the'size to which it is most efficiently adapted. Likewise, when the hand lever 17 is swung to the position shown in Fig. 4 the jaws are capablefof grasping a much smaller pipe. It is, of course, ltrue that as the size increases or decreases beyond the theoretical or ideal size for a given wrench the area of contact between the serrated faces of the jaws and the pipe will be somewhat decreased, but in many instances the gripping effect will be entirely efficient. rlhe capacity for grasping larger or smaller Copies of this patent may be obtained for pipes is due to the ability of the shorter hand lever 17 to swing past the plane of the longer hand lever 12 in both directions.

1f the jaws -10 and 11 be extended and sharpened, the tool may serve as a hoof clipper, and the arrangement of hand and jaw levers is such as to enable a powerful nipping or cutting action to be exerted on the jaws through the hand levers.

yI claim as my invention:

A pipe wrench comprising two jaws adapted to embrace a pipe and formed with curved gripping surfaces concentric to the axis of said pipe, said jaws embracing but slightly more than, half the circumference of the pipe, a hand lever formedintegral with one of said jaws to which the other jaw is pivoted closely adjacent to said gripping surfaces, said latter jaw being provided with a rearwardly extending portion or tail piece provided with a single, rearwardly opening notch having a concave bottom, and a second hand lever pivoted to said iirst hand lever and provided at its end closely adjacent to said latterpivot with a' single projection having a convex end adapted for rolling conj tact with the concave bottom of said notch, said second hand lever being pivoted to swing 'across the first hand lever and provided at the sides ofl its convex end with shoulders to engage shoulders on ythe tail piece at the sides of said notch, for the purpose set forth. v.

In testimony, that I claim the foregoing as my invention I aflix my signature in the presence of two witnesses, this 31st day of December A. D; 1914.

. JOHN LA ROCK. Witnesses:

W. L. HALL, Gr. E. DowLE.

five cents each, by addressing the Gommssioner of Patents. Washington, D. C. 

